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Uresia: Incarnations

There are three different versions of the Uresia: Grave of Heaven worldbook. In terms of setting-information, all three are mutually compatible. Here's a quick rundown for those interested in Uresia but puzzled by the whole multiple-incarnations thing:

  • Uresia: Grave of Heaven (2003): Guardians of Order published the original edition of Uresia in February of 2003 as a supplement to Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2nd Edition, the result of long work, delays and development (since July of 2000). The original worldbook includes stats and character-creation information specific to BESM2, and it's a groovy little digest-sized worldbook that fits in your coat pocket. This is the edition most people are probably familiar with, with the purple-background elf-chick cover. GoO also made this edition available in electronic form for a while (beginning in 2004).
  • Uresia d20 (2004): The original book did well enough to justify porting it to one of GoO's other game-systems, their hybrid of BESM with Wizards of the Coasts' “d20” system used for Dungeons & Dragons. GoO courteously invited me to develop the d20 adaptation, but I'm no d20 scholar (I've GM'ed and played it only a few times), so I passed on it and just pestered them about the cover, instead (it ended up with a beautiful cover, by the talented Niko Geyer, using character-images based on Ed Northcott's interior work). Decorated d20 veteran Ian Sturrock did officer work handling the system-conversions, and Uresia d20 is, in terms of content, virtually identical to the original, with only the BESM stats replaced. The only other differences are a few artwork alterations, some of Ian's extrapolations on how the "character classes" relate to one another, and one omitted map (a non-critical introduction to the world and the runic alphabet used in the page elements). This edition was also available in PDF form for a time.
  • Uresia: Grave of Heaven (All-Systems Library Edition, forthcoming): In the spring of 2005, I approached Guardians of Order asking about buying all the Uresia rights. Mark responded with an offer that suited us both, and on August 31st the material came home, as it were, to Cumberland Games. A new, 2nd Edition of Uresia is currently in production, with new artwork, rebuilt maps, expanded world material and so on. The All-Systems Edition is (as I like to put it) unencumbered by crunch. Like all other All-Systems titles (including the Uresia supplement, Caravel) the “Designer's Cut” edition is 100% setting and gaming resources, taking advantage of the additional space to provide a few surprises. Uresia will be a Cumberland Games PDF, but for those fond of hardcopy, I'll make a POCD version available at Lulu.

Cumberland Games has been publishing Uresia material since the 2001 release of the Temphis Runes and that, along with Uresia Arcana and Caravel, form the beginnings of what I hope will be a game line worth revisiting and campaigning with for years to come. Uresia is a very comfy home for the kind of fantasy gaming I like to write about, and I'll continue doing so for as long as the fan-support remains strong. In addition to Uresia 2nd Edition and Elegy in Ice (another Caravel-scaled mini-supplement), you can also find new Uresia material here on Blue Lamp Road, and in a 2005 charity anthology for the Red Cross (Beyond The Storm). Better still, the Uresia fan-community produces some great stuff that appears here and elsewhere on the web. Future things you might see include licensed Uresia titles from other publishers (both systemless and using systems of the publisher's choice), official conversion documents for popular RPGs (I'll be approaching several publishers about this), and an FRPG from Cumberland designed with Uresia's style in mind. If odd moods strike me I may spontaneously produce oddities like Uresia boardgames (I've got a notion for one …). I am fey and unpredictable.

Over the next month or three, I'll be updating both Blue Lamp Road and the Cumberland website to reflect the central role Cumberland will play in Uresia's future. Bear with me on this and, if it helps, mentally insert little animated “Under Re-Construction” GIFs into the affected web pages. See you soon, back on heaven's grave.

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